WD-40
WD-40 is the trademark name of a penetrating oil and water-displacing spray. The spray is manufactured by the WD-40 Companybased in San Diego, California.1 Contents * 1History * 2Function * 3Formulation * 4References * 5External links History Different sources credit different men with inventing WD-40 formula in 1953 as part of the Rocket Chemical Company (later renamed to WD-40 Company), in San Diego, California; the formula was kept as a trade secret and was never patented.2 According to Iris Engstrand, a historian of San Diego and California history at the University of San Diego, Iver Norman Lawsoninvented the formula,3 while the WD-40 company website and other books and newspapers credit Norman Larsen. According to Engstrand, "Lawson was acknowledged at the time, but his name later became confused with company president Norman B. Larsen."452 "WD-40" is abbreviated from the term "Water Displacement, 40th formula", suggesting it was the result of the 40th attempt to create the product.1 The spray, composed of various hydrocarbons, was originally designed to be used by Convair to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from rust and corrosion.67 This outer skin also functioned as the outer wall of the missile's paper-thin fuel balloon tanks, which were so fragile that, when empty, they had to be kept inflated with nitrogen to prevent them from collapsing. WD-40 was later found to have many household uses1 and was made available to consumers in San Diego in 1958.6 In Engstrand's account, it was Iver Norman Lawson who came up with the water-displacing mixture after working at home, and turned it over to the Rocket Chemical Company for the sum of $500, which today (2018) is about $4,600. It was Norman Larsen, president of the company, who had the idea of packaging it in aerosol cans and marketed it in this way.3 It was written up as a new consumer product in 1961.8 By 1965 it was being used by airlines including Delta and United; United, for example, was using it on fixed and movable joints of their DC-8 and Boeing 720s in maintenance and overhaul.9 At that time, airlines were using a variant called WD-60 to clean turbines, removing light rust from control lines, and when handling or storing metal parts.9By 1969 WD-40 was being marketed to farmers and mechanics in England.10 In 1973, WD-40 Company, Inc., went public with its first stock offering. Its NASDAQ stock symbol is (NASDAQ: WDFC).11 In 2014, WD-40 was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.12 By the fiscal year 2017, gross revenue for the company, including sales of the familiar WD-40 Multi-Use as well as other products, totaled $381 million in annual revenue; about half of this was for sales outside the US. CEO Garry O. Ridge told a NASDAQ publication that they manufacture the "secret formula" in four plants located in various countries and ship it to other companies which then blend and package the product before shipping it to customers.13 Function The long-term active ingredient is a non-volatile viscous oil which remains on the surface to which it is applied, giving lubrication and protection from moisture.14 This oil is diluted with a volatile hydrocarbon to make a low viscosity fluid which can be aerosolized to penetrate crevices. The volatile hydrocarbon then evaporates, leaving behind the oil. A propellant (originally a low-molecular-weight hydrocarbon, now carbon dioxide) creates pressure in the can to force the liquid through the can's nozzle before evaporating.14 The product is also sold in bulk as a liquid to industrial companies.15 The statement that the oil "remains on the surface to which it is applied" is true only to the point that the surface bears load of weight, friction, gravity, etc, and after that point it may not remain on the surface as suggested by the marketing material. This article contains a reference to the Wired magazine analysis of the oil, the viscosity of which may not be appropriate for specific lubrication needs, and accordingly, further lubrication may be required. This is the source of the long-running argument that 'WD-40 is not a lubricant', since it is formulated to remove lubricant from the applied surfaces, replace it with the lubricant in the WD-40, which may not remain, leaving no lubricant. Formulation WD-40's formula is a trade secret, and has not changed over the years, according to historian Iris Engstrand.3 To avoid disclosing its composition, the product was not patented in 1953, and the window of opportunity for patenting it has long since closed.7 WD-40's main ingredients as supplied in aerosol cans, according to US Material Safety Data Sheet information, are: * 50% "aliphatic hydrocarbons". The manufacturer's website claims this ratio in the current formulation cannot accurately be described as Stoddard solvent, a similar mixture of hydrocarbons.16 * <25% petroleum base oil. Presumably a mineral oil or light lubricating oil. * 12–18% low vapor pressure aliphatic hydrocarbon. Reduces the liquid's viscosity so that it can be used in aerosols. The hydrocarbon evaporates during application. * 2–3% carbon dioxide. A propellant which is now used instead of the original liquefied petroleum gas to reduce WD-40's flammability. (A bulk liquid version, without a propellant, is also manufactured for industrial use.) * <10% inert ingredients. The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety-relevant ingredients: * 60–80% hydrogen-treated heavy naphtha (a petroleum product used in wick-type cigarette lighters) * 1–5% carbon dioxide It warns of the product's high flammability and the risk of irritation to human skin when repeatedly exposed to WD-40. Wearing nitrile rubber gloves and safety glasses are advised (ordinary rubber disintegrates if exposed to petroleum products). It also mentions that water is unsuitable for extinguishing burning WD-40. In 2009, Wired published an article with the results of gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy tests on WD-40, showing that the principal components were C9 to C14 alkanesand mineral oil. Category:Companies